


New Vertigo

by merryghoul



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: 24 hours to live, Alternate Universe, Drugs, Gen, Near Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 10:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1222450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryghoul/pseuds/merryghoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Felicity's injected with Vertigo, Oliver and Diggle have mere hours to get the antidote from the Count.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Vertigo

**Author's Note:**

> Set around season 2. AU where Count Vertigo never died.
> 
> trope_bingo prompt: 24 hours to live

Another day was done at Felicity's job—her other job, helping out with the Arrow and Diggle. China White had attempted to commit another crime with the aid of the Starling City Triad and had gotten away again. It was time for Felicity to get some rest before getting up to go to work for Queen Consolidated.

But before she could get to her apartment, she found a hand covering her mouth, pulling her neck to the side.

"Felicity Smoak! I think it's been a while, hasn't it?" It was Count Vertigo.

Felicity began to scream.

"I need some test subjects for Vertigo. A new and improved formula that's fast-acting. You won't need an overdose. If this works on you, I'll try it on more people. Bankers. The mayor. Oliver Queen! Maybe everyone in this city will have a dose."

He giggled as he stuck the shot in Felicity's neck. Then he ran away as fast as he could, hiding into an alleyway to view Felicity's reaction to his shot.

Felicity pulled out her cell phone and called one of her contacts. She said "I need" before letting out a bloodcurdling scream in the alleyway.

Pleased with the results, the Count fled before anyone could spot him.

 

Oliver got the call in the basement. Diggle was about to leave when he saw Oliver head back to the basement's medical bay (or lack thereof).

"What's going on?" Diggle said.

"It's Felicity. I got a call from her from the ghost phone. All she said was 'I need.' Then she screamed like she was in pain."

"Sounds like Count Vertigo."

"I've got some specimens of the Count's previous antidotes. We can try them on Felicity, but knowing the Count, we're going to need to get the antidote from him. Can you trace where her phone's at, Dig?

"I'm on it."

Diggle sat at Felicity's computers. He typed in a few commands before the computer found where Felicity's phone was.

"Got it."

Oliver looked at the computers.

"I'm going to go pick her up. You stay here in case something else happens."

 

Usually when Oliver had to sedate someone as the Arrow, he'd shoot a tranquilizer dart at his target. But when Oliver found Felicity, still screaming to the point she had awakened a lot of people, he decided to pull out the dart and stab her in the thigh.

Felicity fell asleep. Oliver hoisted her up and walked her over to his motorcycle, putting her in front of the bike so she wouldn't fall off.

Moments later, an ambulance someone called in the area where Felicity was injected with Count Vertigo's drug arrived to a well-lit but silent alleyway.

 

Back in their headquarters, Oliver had taken a blood sample from Felicity's body to analyze her Vertigo levels. Diggle was monitoring the sample.

Felicity woke up. The Vertigo was still in her body, causing pain in every extremity. She resumed screaming.

The two antidotes Oliver had snagged from Count Vertigo were already in needles. Oliver injected Felicity with the first antidote and waited to see if it would have any effect. There was no change in Felicity's condition. The other antidote had no effect, either. The only thing Felicity did differently was breath harder.

Oliver sighed. "Knew it. Is the blood work analysis done, Dig?"

"I think so."

Oliver looked at the blood work analysis. "The Vertigo in her body looks like the Vertigo that's in the body of someone who's about to die."

"The Count's come up with an advanced strain of Vertigo."

"We need to find him. He's the only one who'd have the antidote. Felicity might know where he is right now…"

"If she wasn't screaming her head off."

"Dig, you stay with her. I'm going to go looking for the Count. If you hear anything about his whereabouts, let me know."

 

Oliver was on his motorcycle, looking for signs of the Count, when Diggle spoke to him though his earpiece.

_"The Count's been spotted. The police have word of him sneaking into Sebastian Blood's office. They plan to corner and shoot him if he's a threat."_

"If the Count dies, we might not get the antidote."

_"I'm on my way."_

 

Sebastian was tied up and gagged in his chair. The Count had injected him already with a drug that not only caused paralysis, it was strong enough to overcome the Mirakuru in Sebastian's system.

"This is going to be my favorite kill," the Count said, waving the new strain of Vertigo around Sebastian's head. "No one knows about our relationship. Actually, I'm tired of it. I need to strike out on my own, not be bossed around by some blood junkie getting high off of some super-serum. And no one knows you run around looking like that Scarecrow from Gotham City. If you die, I can be free _and_ Starling City's free from a menace."

The Count was about to inject Sebastian with his Vertigo when the Arrow appeared in the room. The Arrow had missed the Count's speech on Sebastian and their relationship.

"Put the needle down." Oliver had disguised his voice.

"Why should I?"

"I'm willing to make a deal."

"Deal? I don't deal with guys running around with masks like it's Halloween."

"I need the antidote to your Vertigo."

"Why? Do you know—"

"She was admitted to a hospital. The hospital has nothing that can stop the Vertigo going through her body. You're about to have the murder of an innocent young woman on your hands."

The Count shrugged.

"This is your final warning. Put the needle down."

The Count inched the needle closer to Sebastian's neck.

The Arrow shot several arrows into the Count's coat. The Count was pinned to the wall of Sebastian's office.

"That's nothing. I'm sure I'll be able to—"

The Count was shot with a tranquilizer dart in his thigh.

The Arrow went through the Count's pockets and pulled out every vial of anything that didn't look like the Vertigo in the Count's needle.

The police found the Count still pinned to the wall, unconscious. Meanwhile, they found Sebastian conscious but unable to move.

 

There were two vials Oliver knew didn't have Vertigo in them. The first one was tested and found to be a paralyzing agent. Oliver didn't think too much about the paralyzing agent. His focus was on the other vial.

While Oliver was out, Felicity's breathing became more irregular. She was squirming on the table she was placed on. She couldn't stop sweating.

"I think she's about to die, Oliver," Diggle said. "Her blood pressure's dropping."

Oliver extracted the contents of the other vial into a needle. "This is either the antidote or she's going to die, Dig."

"Let's hope she'll live." Diggle grabbed Felicity's right hand.

Oliver injected the Vertigo in Felicity's right arm.

Shortly after the injection, Felicity's breathing and blood pressure stabilized. Diggle was surprised that Felicity was strong enough to grab his hand back.

"Go to sleep, okay?" Diggle said to Felicity. "We'll take you home when you're ready."

"You can have the day off tomorrow," Oliver said. "We'll call in a temp. If something else happens, I think we'll be able to parse whatever comes up on the computers."

"And if we can't, Oliver?"

"Have you heard anything about any child geniuses in the paper recently?"

 

Felicity was returned to her apartment in the morning. During their lunch break, Oliver and Diggle visited Felicity at her apartment.

Felicity was still in bed. She was alert, working on some trivial thing on a laptop computer.

Diggle walked up to Felicity's bed. "Your throat's still sore."

Felicity nodded.

"Would you like some soup?"

Felicity nodded again.

"I'll go get you some."

Felicity clicked a few things on her computer and typed in a few other things. She turned the laptop to Oliver. She typed in two words in a word processing program: THANK YOU. She increased the font size so Oliver could see it.

The word processing document was far from Felicity's usual awkward speeches to Oliver, the ones where she'd accidentally say something sexual before she got to her point. Oliver wouldn't admit it, but he liked whenever she'd try to explain herself like that. But for the moment, THANK YOU would suffice.


End file.
